With some 259,000 people crossing over to Switzerland to work, commuter figures were up 11.5 percent on the same quarter a year earlier, according to the Federal Statistics Office.

Over the last five years, the number of cross-border commuters has risen by a third, up from 194,000 in 2006.

Some eighty percent of cross-border workers travelling to Switzerland commute to jobs in three regions: 33.7 percent in the Lake Geneva area, 25.6 percent in north-western Switzerland, and 20.8 percent in Ticino.

The figures also showed that more than half (52.7 percent) of all cross-border workers live in France, compared to 22.8 percent in Italy, 21.1 percent in Germany, and 3.2 percent in Austria. 

Three groups were heavily over-represented in the five-year statistics: The number of office workers increased by 71.4 percent, unskilled workers by 67.2 percent, and top-level managers by 52.1 percent.

While Switzerland saw a general increase in jobs for unskilled workers and managers over the period, the swelling numbers of office employees came at a time when the number of people in office jobs fell by 11.5 percent.